Imagine you are a runner, training for a marathon, and you need a new pair of running shoes. In the sneaker store, you are bombarded with signs for percent discounts. This gives you a headache because there are so many steps. Isn’t there an easier way to figure out percent discounts? And, what about sales tax… It’s all so complicated.

Solving multi-step problems with percent doesn’t have to be so complicated - if you apply a very smart shortcut. Rather than figuring out the amount of the discount and then subtracting it to determine the discounted price, and then figuring out the sales tax and adding it to the price tax to determine the final price, you can use a shortcut and save a few steps.

What’s the shortcut? Consider the full price of a pair of running shoes as 100% of the price, deduct a discount of 30%, and what do you have left? 70%, now you can calculate 70% of the original price to determine the new discounted price. To figure out the tax, well let’s not spoil the surprise. To learn more about shortcuts to help you quickly solve multi-step problems with discounts and taxes, take a look at this video. About training you to run faster so you can win the marathon, sorry, can’t help you with that.

Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.1